Mille Fiori ???

One of the items I brought with me to Ethiopia was 2 multi color packages of Sculpey III clay.

I had arrange for all the 1st and 2nd grade girls to work on this craft. That is only 11 girls but they are young and don't always follow directions really well and they don't always understand.
Today they behaved almost perfectly! Yeah! and we had a great time. I explained to them just two techniques for making beads and they all liked the swirled ones and that simplified things greatly.

We got the small color blocks of clay passed out and with varying degrees of quality they made quite a large quantity of beads. They were absolutely engrossed in the project and most ended up with some pretty fine beads. They all got to make two sets with different color combinations. Later we will string the beads for necklaces and bracelets. I have got the all baked now which to a while in the pint sized oven at my disposal.

Now to really call this mille fiori is probably a real stretch but these girls created something they find beautiful with their own hands and when we string them will have enough to share with all the children here. I can't really think of a much better way to spend my Sunday afternoon.

Addis Ababa

Saturday was our day to visit and shop in Addis Ababa.
We really did all things that any foriengi could desire to do.
We visited some very amazing fair trade shops. Most notably a scarf and woven goods shop called Sabahra or something on that order. They have village women raise silk worms and breed them and all and harvest the silk and than they buy it from them and spin and weave it on site with local female labor. What a blessing this sort of thing is to the poorest here in Ethiopia.
Another notable shop was Salem's where I could have spent a small fortune had I been able to haul everything home with me. Salem is the proprieter and she hires local craft women and provide space for them to create and weave. They have beautiful woven scarfs, shawls and gabbi's (not sure of the spelling on that but it is a larger thin blanket like item. They also have lots of baskets of very fine quality and a good selection of jewelry and journals and cards and such.
We also went to the Churchill area which is shop after shop that is small and dark, staffed with locals more than willing to bargain to make the sale. Some of the items are Ethiopian craftsmanship some from other African countries esp. Kenya. Some probably as authentic as you could find at a bazaar at home (not African)
Another highlight of the day was Sichu's restaurant where we at lunch. I have been here 7 weeks now and the novelty of injera and wat has worn off. This is an American style hamburger place. Oh man does a home style hamburger taste good when you have eaten mostly injera and wat for 7 weeks. It was also a very cool place that would rival some college area burger joints in big cities. Definite industrial flavor and eclectic.
A full day of shopping and walking around unfamiliar places left us Foreingi gals pretty exhausted, but happy too
 

ART

I find myself favorably impressed with the art curriculum that Rafiki provides. It integrates art concepts, famous artists and creativity into the projects. These are all good things. The problems that arise have nothing to do with the curriculum.
There is not a trained art teacher to assist with the teaching in Ethiopia. I would venture a guess this is true at all the Rafiki Villages. Supplies to use in teaching art are hard to come by here. An art room equipped with a sink and proper art equipment is non existent.
These are challenges that require some innovation. Water is carried in to the class in a pitcher and dispensed into individual containers (aka used yogurt cups). Paper towels are suggested for blotters. The closest we have is napkins. Paper plates that can be disposed of are suggested for palattes. We have Styrofoam meat trays which need to be washed and reused.
Gathering all my various supplies and a willing assistant (AKA victim) I headed to the 2nd grade classroom and we tried diligently to instruct and assist the students in creating a background for their rendition of Vincent Van Goghs Starry Night.
At the end of class we have 14 sheets or art paper painted a hand mixed shade of dark blue created from blue and black temera paint. Either 2nd graders cannot or will not listen or they just enjoyes smearing paint around on their palattes but too much black mixed with blue in nearly every instance. A great deal of dark paint was removed from trays to add more blue.  Assistant fell victim to splashing paint water from the mop and floor drain in the work room where supplies had to be cleaned. Several students decided it was fun to embellish their faces with paint. We were greatful they didn't embellish the walls as well.
On the positive side we do have a start on the project. Two very fine young ladies from 2nd grade did a phenomenal job cleaning up. We have learned several things from this. We need a third helper for the remaining painting days. We need to seriously ration the black paint. Having fun is part of the process so we need to keep a sense of humor.
I am somewhat concerned that the generally well behaved 2nd graders had much trouble not making a profound mess and following instructions and painting with the less well behaved 1st graders is coming up.
I can do it I can do it I can do it I can do it. I can do it.
We will try to have fun

Let's Go Fly a Kite

There is one second grade boy here named Nahum who tends to stand out from the rest as being particularly bright and inquisitive. He has been fascinated with the idea of flying kites. Now this is not a readily available thing here where you can just go to your nearby big box store and pick up the kit or supplies and there you go.
I noticed a pouch labeled pocket stunt kite among the treasures of books and boxes in the storage area and had given some thought to trying it but had to think about a plan as there is one kite and there are 46 children. So with chart in hand we set out to fly kite with grade 2 boys first followed by grade one boys and grade 2 girls and grade.
Never underestimate the relative difficulty of flying a frameless parafoil kit. It needs a great deal of wind and it wasn't really windy enough. Also never underestimate the tiring effect of the sun here where we are at nearly 6000 feet and not that far from the equator. Also never underestimate the energy and enthusiasm of young boys.
Luckily for my cohort and I the kite lodged itself in an Acacia tree after about 2 hours and we quit for the day.
Sunday afternoon went better all around because the wind was stronger and we had learned a thing or two. Now slowly we are getting some time in flying with different children as the wind and schedule permits. Young Nahum has not been completely satisfied so he built his own diamond kite which is too small and too heavy to fly and has maybe 15 feet of yarn for kite string.
This inspired me to get busy with some sticks and make a better diamond kite. First try has been highly unsatisfactory. The sticks are sharp enough to harm someone and my sad little kite makes fast dives pretty randomly, not a good combination so I disconnected from the Stunt kite string and redid the stunt kite and have flown it a bit more with the young ones today.
The wind is about perfect right now so I am sure I am going to be hearing from Nahum soon about another chance to fly the kite.
Sometimes the village here feels like an oasis for convenience, comfort and protection, but this is Ethiopia and much of what I take forgranted at home is just not here. Longing for a chicken filet Sandwich and my YMCA Gym and pool.

Simple things

Tis a gift to be Simple
Tis a gift to be Free
This week we made parachutes out of yarn, rocks and plastic grocery bags. In my opinion this was a very lame craft. The kids loved this and are still playing with them 3 days later.
This morning we made hats out of newspaper with the little kids (three and four) which they were totally thrilled with.
This afternoon we ran a treasure/scavenger hunt with the grade 1 and 2 kids. To be honest this was pretty thrown together and silly but they loved loved loved it.
It pleases me that these things along with having the chance to fly a kite in rotation for 20 minutes at a time are seen as a great priviledge by these children.
Not a lot of intitlement here.